Australia Confirms $350 Million For Large-Scale Solar Development.

Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC)Â has announcedÂ a $350 million large-scale solar finance program intended to boost development in Australia.

The move is aimed at bringing reducing the costs of large-scale solar and has been described as transformative for solar power in the country.

ARENA has pledged $100 million as part of the programme that will seek bids from major large-scale solar PV project developers for grants of up to $30 million a piece.

Projects are required to have a minimum generation capacity of 5 megawatts, with the target of supporting the development of a further 200 MW of capacity across Australia.

Ivor Frischknecht, ARENA chief executive said, â€œAustralia has huge natural advantages in this area: more sun than almost anywhere else and a solar R&D sector that is the envy of the worldâ€¦ The funding round is about unlocking that capability to deploy large-scale solar farms across the nation. This will drive further innovation in the sector and create efficincies in Australiaâ€™s solar PV supply chains.â€

The CEFC announced a $250 million large-scale solar financing initiative which will support projects with loans of over $15 million.

Oliver Yates, CEFC chief executive said the new wave of investment is â€œtransformative for the deployment of large-scale solar in Australia. When fully deployed, the CEFC finance will be the single largest debt financing commitment to the Australian large-scale solar sector,â€ he said.

â€œBy working closely with ARENA, and investing alongside private sector co-investors to bridge the financing gap for projects that make commercial sense, weâ€™re seeking to build Australiaâ€™s expertise in solar and bring down development costs,â€ Yates added.